Everton have maintained a long standing interest in the England international, but his situation has alerted a host of clubs, who know they can sign him for nothing when his contract with the Old Trafford giants expires.

Join the club! England international Cleverley is a target for a string of teams (Image: Reuters)

Tottenham, Sunderland, West Ham and Hull have all followed the situation with interest, and the first three can offer the player big money as no transfer fee will be involved.

Spurs, in particular, can offer the prospect of challenging around the top four and the prospect of European football. But Cleverley must balance those pros against the con that he would be far from certain of commanding a regular first-team place there.

Everton boss Roberto Martinez has already managed Cleverley, when he was on loan from United to Wigan for the 2010-11 season, and the pair have maintained a close relationship.

One and done: Cleverley is at Villa on loan this season but won't sign permanently (Image: Neville Williams)

Martinez claimed at the time: “Maybe they just didn’t want to send a player on loan to a club finished above them last season. We finished fifth and they finished a bit lower, so from that respect you can understand.”

Cleverley believes the Spaniard’s philosophy suits his playing style, and that has made Everton hopeful they can see offrival bidders - even if their contract offer may not be the biggest.

Martinez insisted that despite his team’s disappointing season, it hasn’t affected their standing in the eyes of potential singings, and he is adamant he will be able to compete for players when the summer transfer window opens.

“I don’t think it has damaged us, no,” he said of their struggles just north of the relegation battle.

“I think the perception of Everton has improved in the last 12 months. What we achieved in Europe [reaching the last 16 of the Europa League] has allowed that to happen - I see reports in Spain, France and other countries, and the perception of us has improved in Europe.

“I think every player who’s faced Everton this season will have come out with a real respect and a real appreciation of the way we play as a club.

"We don’t rely on ten months of results. We’ve got a bigger picture of what we’re trying to achieve and what we’ve got in the squad - particularly in terms of the younger players who have been given incredible roles.”

Martinez is, though, keen to reduce the average age of his squad and build his side around a core of younger players including Ross Barkley, John Stones, Romelu Lukaku and Seamus Coleman - at 25, Cleverley would fit perfectly into that.

Sticky situation: Lukaku may not be fit to face Swansea - and Gibson is definitely out (Image: Getty)

While Martinez has kept a close eye on Cleverley’s situation, he denied that a deal has already been struck.

“No. That’s not true,” he said.

“Tom is a player I know really well.

"We know the positions that we need to strengthen in the summer. It’s something we’ve worked really hard on since January, in order to identify those targets, but a lot of decisions will depend on how we perform in the last seven games.

"It’s going to be a very important end of season for us, in order to allow us to make the right decisions for the summer.”